Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Archives

Marian Catechist

Marys Central Role in Catechetical Controversy

by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

There are in general two kinds of religious programs in use in the Catholic
schools and confraternity classes in the United States at the present time.
They may conveniently be classed as experiential and doctrinal. In the experiential
type, the stress is on each persons own experiences.

Is Devotion Doctrinal?

Running as themes through the standard sources for the experiential method
of religious education are a number of underlying principles that touch directly
on our subject. I would select two as fundamental to the rest. They are the
claim that revelation is not so much communication from God to man as an encounter,
going on here and now, between God and mankind; and that in the new approach
to the Christian religion the Bible is superior to tradition, so that a great
deal of what had passed for Christian doctrine is merely devotion, which in
our ecumenical age should be discarded. The role of the Blessed Virgin in the
experiential view, then, would at most be that of an ideal or symbol that a
Christian might admire and perhaps strive to imitate, much as one might read
about Florence Nightingale and be inspired by her selfless generosity. But no
more.

In the doctrinal approach to catechetics, we are in a different theology of
religious education. The doctrinal method of catechetics assumes that in the
message of salvation there is a certain hierarchy of truths, which means that
some truths are based on others, and are illumined by them. This method further
assumes that these truths may be grouped under four basic heads, as follows:
1) the mystery of the Trinity, Creator of all things; 2) the mystery of Christ
the Incarnate Word; 3) the mystery of the Holy Spirit, who is present in the
Church, sanctifying and guiding her; and 4) the mystery of the Church, which
is Christs Mystical Body, in which the Virgin Mary holds the prominent place.

Catholic Means Mary

It is seen immediately that the Blessed Virgin is part of the doctrinal possession
of Catholic Christianity. So then, to teach Catholic doctrine means to teach
Mary as belonging to the mystery of the Incarnation and the Mystical Body of
Christ.

There is no practical way of telling how deeply the experiential kind of catechesis,
that minimizes doctrine where it does not ignore it, has penetrated the teaching
of religion in our country. An excellent study published by the United States
Catholic Conference on Where Are the 6.6 Million? is revealing to the
extreme. It shows that there has been the most phenomenal drop in formal religious
instruction in the history of the Catholic Church in America. Over six million
Catholic children and youth who should be getting instruction in their faith
under Church auspices are not getting it. One of the main causes for this penetration
has been a massive secularization of what was once professedly Catholic education.
And among the most telling symptoms of this secularization is the downgrading
of devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

On Neglecting Mary

It is in this context that I would like to quote from the much-neglected Pastoral
Letter on the Blessed Virgin Mary by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The letter says some profound and beautiful things about Our Lady. But it also
says some strong things about the neglect of Our Lady in American Catholic life.

In writing this Pastoral Letter, our concern about Our Lady is most keenly
felt in the area of devotion. No survey is needed to show that all over the
country many forms of Marian devotion have fallen into disuse, and others are
taking an uncertain course. In an age avid for symbols (the peace medals and
other signs of the young are evidence of this), the use of Catholic Marian symbols,
such as the scapular and the Miraculous Medal, has noticeably diminished. Only
a few years ago the rosary was a common mark of a Catholic, and it was customarily
taught to children, both at home and in courses in religious instruction. Adults
in every walk of life found strength in this familiar prayer, which is biblically
based and is filled with the thoughts of Jesus and his Mother in the mysteries.
The praying of the rosary has declined. Some Catholics feel that there has been
a campaign to strip the churches of statues of Our Lady and the saints. Admittedly,
many of our churches were in need of artistic reform, but one wonders at the
severity of the judgement that would find no place for a fitting image of the
Mother of the Lord.

We view with great sympathy the distress our people feel over the loss of devotion
to Our Lady and we share their concern that the young be taught a deep and true
love for the Mother of God. (Behold Your Mother, United States Catholic
Conference, Washington, 1973, nn. 92-93, pp. 34-35).

To anyone familiar with the scene of American Catholic religious instruction,
this concern borders on anguish. Those who know what is going on have no illusions.
No mask of theological rhetoric can hide the fact that millions of our Catholic
young are not being taught a deep and true love for the Mother of God. When
a stout volume is published under the guise of scholarship, casting doubts on
the historicity of the Infancy Narratives in the Gospels; when priest-writers
are telling the faithful that doctrines like the Assumption are not required
to be followed by a professed Catholic, when authors writing with an imprimatur
are claiming that Christ never identified himself with the Father, is it any
wonder that the youth are not being taught a deep and true love for the Mother
of God?

Without Truth No Love

Love for the Blessed Virgin must be based on sound doctrine about the Blessed
Virgin. In the absence of true doctrine there cannot be true love, and without
true love there can be no devotion. Only God can read the future, but of this
at least we can be certain. The strength of the Catholic faith in the United
States in the next generation will be in direct proportion to the youth of today
receiving a sound instruction in what they are to believe and how they are to
put their belief into practice. Part of this instruction must be in the mysteries
of Our Lady, who first gave Christ to the world and who still gives her Son
to those who believe in him and tells them, as she told the servants at the
wedding feast of Cana, Do whatever he tells you. (Jn. 2:6)

One closing sentence: Unless catechetics pays due respect to Mary it will not
give due honor to Christ, and without Christ there is no Christianity.

Reprinted with permission from a presentation given at the National Marian
Year Congress, August 13, 1988 sponsored by the Militia Immaculatae (Knights
of the Immaculata) of Libertyville, Ill.